Parminder Aujla

SACRAMENTO (TIP): Three men were booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on Thursday and were scheduled to appear in federal court Friday afternoon following a six-month investigation that court records say included undercover drug buys in Canada and the United States, cellphone surveillance and encrypted communications conducted in Punjabi.

Parampreet Singh, 55; Ranvir Singh, 38; and Amandeep Singh Multani, 33, are charged in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, opium and ketamine, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency describes as a “short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects” that is “sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault crimes.”

They also face a count of distribution of a substance containing cocaine.

All three are being held without bail, and online court records did not list an attorney for them Friday morning.

The three men “have offered to supply up to hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, heroin, opium, and ketamine at a time, in both Canada and the United States,” according to an affidavit filed in court by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Joshua Matas. “They have also stated that they have drug trafficking connections to Mexico, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Germany, in addition to the United States and Canada.”

American DEA agents based in Ottawa began investigating the operation in June 2020, and contacted agents in the Sacramento area in October, court records say.

The probe included the use of an undercover officer from the York Regional Police department, near Toronto, who arranged for undercover buys alternately communicating in Punjabi, Spanish and English, court records say.

The agent coordinated through cellphones, WhatsApp and Botim, an encrypted application that Parampreet Singh advised the undercover agent to use, court records say.

“Based on my training and experience, I believe Singh’s consistent use of encrypted apps shows his level of expertise in his attempts to avoid detection of his drug-related conversations by law enforcement,” Matas wrote.

The investigation ultimately led to drug purchases in Canada and in Sacramento, where an undercover agent picked up a green plastic bag containing cocaine from Ranvir Singh and Multani in the parking lot of the Cheesecake Factory on Arden Way, court records say.

Agents eventually obtained search warrants for Parampreet Singh’s home on Goshawk Street in Davis, as well as a Chevron mini-mart he operates on Harbor Boulevard in West Sacramento, court records say. Other warrants were issued for a Natomas Park home on Baines Avenue owned by Ranvir Singh, a Stansfield Drive home in Roseville associated with Multani and five vehicles, including a Hummer SUV and an Audi sedan registered to Parampreet Singh and a Mercedes-Benz SUV driven by Ranvir Singh, court records say.